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Money Throws Democracy Overboard
Watching what’s happening to our democracy is like watching the cruise ship Costa Concordia founder and sink slowly into the sea off the coast of Italy, as the passengers, shorn of life vests, scramble for safety as best they can, while the captain trips and falls conveniently into a waiting life boat.
We are drowning here, with gaping holes torn into the hull of the ship of state from charges detonated by the owners and manipulators of capital. Their wealth has become a demonic force in politics. Nothing can stop them. Not the law, which has been written to accommodate them. Not scrutiny -- they have no shame. Not a decent respect for the welfare of others -- the people without means, their safety net shredded, left helpless before events beyond their control.
The obstacles facing the millennial generation didn’t just happen. Take an economy skewed to the top, low wages and missing jobs, predatory interest rates on college loans: these are politically engineered consequences of government of, by, and for the one percent. So, too, is our tax code the product of money and politics, influence and favoritism, lobbyists and the laws they draft for rented politicians to enact.
Here’s what we’re up against. Read it and weep: “America’s Plutocrats Play the Political Ponies.” That’s a headline in “Too Much,” an Internet publication from the Institute for Policy Studies that describes itself as “an online weekly on excess and inequality.”
Yes, the results are in and our elections have replaced horse racing as the sport of kings. Only these kings aren’t your everyday poobahs and potentates. These kings are multi-billionaire, corporate moguls who by the divine right, not of God, but the United States Supreme Court and its Citizens United decision, are now buying politicians like so much pricey horseflesh. All that money pouring into super PACs, much of it from secret sources: merely an investment, should their horse pay off in November, in the best government money can buy.
They’re shelling out fortunes' worth of contributions. Look at just a few of them: Mitt Romney’s hedge fund pals Robert Mercer, John Paulson, Julian Robertson and Paul Singer – each of whom has ponied up a million or more for the super PAC called “Restore Our Future” -- as in, "Give us back the go-go days, when predators ruled Wall Street like it was Jurassic Park.”
Then there's casino boss Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, fiercely pro-Israel and anti-President Obama's Mideast policy. Initially, they placed their bets on Newt Gingrich, who says on his first day in office he’d move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a decision that would thrill the Adelsons but infuriate Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world. Together, the Adelsons have contributed ten million to Newt's “Winning Our Future” super PAC.
Cowboy billionaire Foster Friess, a born-again Christian who made his fortune herding mutual funds instead of cattle, has been bankrolling the “Red White and Blue Fund” super PAC of Rick Santorum, with whom he shares a social right-wing agenda. Dark horse Ron Paul has relied on the kindness of PayPal founder Peter Thiel, a like-minded libertarian in favor of the smallest government possible, who gave $900,000 to Paul’s “Endorse Liberty” super PAC. Hollywood’s Jeffrey Katzenberg has so far emptied his wallet to the tune of a cool two million for the pro-Obama super PAC, “Priorities USA Action.”
President Obama -- who kept his distance from Priorities USA Action and used to call the money unleashed by Citizens United a “threat to democracy” -- has declared if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. He urges his wealthy supporters to please go ahead and back the super PAC. "Our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it stands," his campaign manager Jim Messina said. To do otherwise, he added, would be to "unilaterally disarm" in the face of all those Republican super PAC millions. So much for Obama’s stand on campaign finance reform – everybody else is doing it, he seems to say, so why don’t you show me the money, too?
When all is said and done, this race for the White House may cost more than two billion dollars. What’s getting trampled into dust are the voices of people who aren't rich, not to mention what's left of our democracy. As Democratic pollster Peter Hart told The New Yorker magazine’s Jane Mayer, “It’s become a situation where the contest is how much you can destroy the system, rather than how much you can make it work. It makes no difference if you have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ after your name. There’s no sense that this is about democracy, and after the election you have to work together, and knit the country together.”
These gargantuan super PAC contributions are not an end in themselves. They are the means to gain control of government – and the nation state -- for a reason. The French writer and economist Frederic Bastiat said it plainly: "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." That’s what the super PACs are bidding on. For the rest of us, the ship may already have sailed.
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50 Comments so far
Show All"economist Frederic Bastiat said it plainly: "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." That’s what the super PACs are bidding on. For the rest of us, the ship may already have sailed."
Indeed it has. And there's no room even in steerage for the rest of us.
I repeat what I said yesterday, in reply to naive comment about =gaining control of the banks= through organization and democratic process. We'll vote them to death.
IMO, persons who could gain control of the banks and priapic capitalism are now deceased. They include: Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot.
Knowing this, today's capitalistic Megapsychopaths have threaded the planet with invasive eavesdropping technology, now to include overhead drones. Leaders like the three above would be swiftly targeted by a guided but intelligent weapon.
In a book warning of population explosion, Isaac Asimov referred to this spectacular orb as =Lifeboat Earth=. To day, for perhaps 29 percent of humans it is an Internment Camp - and for the remaining 70 percent a Gulag.
In the USA, stories recall Negro females who escaped plantations via the Underground Railroad. In the North they gave birth to free chirrin. But law allowed the recovery of =property= and bounty hunters came after them. Some recaptured black females put their children to death, rather than allow them to be taken into slavery.
My question is this. Why on earth are H. sapiens still breeding?
Trylon
When US voters elected Ronny Raygun in November 1980, I asked the same question, Trylon.
Within the first year of Raygun's occupancy of the White House it became apparent that the US would not be fit for human habitation. When US voters confirmed they were brain dead by electing Raygun to a second term it became apparent that the earth would not be fit for human habitation and I got a vasectomy.
I was in Canada, looking around for the Vietnamese President Johnson expected me to kill, in case any was a dwarf with a pocket knife.
The John Irving book, =A Prayer For Owen Meany= is brilliant for myriad reasons. But one of them is, character John Wheelwright, living in Canada has to ignore newspapers that describe the election of Ronald Reagan to the White House. Irving wrote about this. I LIVED it.
When I had my vasectomy, I asked for a wallet sized discredit card. Did you get one?
Trylon
any particular reason 'children' is spelled 'chirrin'?
do you work for women's rights in other countries and have any specific suggestions?
==any particular reason 'children' is spelled 'chirrin'?==
I'm educated, well read, and published. But, I don't always spell perfectly. The term is correctly spelled =chirren=. Sorry. Read a book by Walter Mosley.
By capitalism you mean kleptocratic, warmongering, crony disaster capitalism I'm sure. Which in the end IS the true capitalism.
I believe the capitalists see the Chinese governing model as the 'new more improved model' for governing - and are just figuring out how to transition to that in America and across the western world.
"I believe the capitalists see the Chinese governing model as the 'new more improved model' for governing - and are just figuring out how to transition to that in America and across the western world."
Bing-frigging-o! And for figuring this out, you win an all expenses paid indefinite "vacation" at a detention center of the governments choice...
I'm sure they're fluffing the pillows and laying a nice piece of chocolate on it for me as we speak!
Nah - you mean distribution centers
The Dems. are acting like the Chinese Leninists. Both parties here are firmly in the hands of the Plutocrats. Take your pick either way your getting Plutocratic rule, as far as the eye can see.. The game has always been rigged this way to some degree, the problem today is the relatively weak hand Labor now has since the planned destruction of the Unions. ( the result of off shoring our Industrial base to Asia ( mostly.) In the 50's almost 40% of the private workforce was Unionized, today its more like 8% and going down. The only healthy Unions are the Public Service Unions. Without a healthy small and mid-sized private sector and a large no. of Unionized workers the middle class is doomed and neo-feudalism / corporatism is ascendant. A return to a hi tech version of the 19th century is looming large. I predict within 10 yrs. America will return to being a 2 class society as it was most of its existence. The period from the 1940's to the 1990's was just an anomaly. The norm is a tiny ruling elite of fabulous wealth on top of a huge mass of peons and semi-slaves The middle class is the small layer of Prof. managers , bureaucrats and police/ military needed to manage this increasingly destitute and desperate mass of people. Security will be the BIG business of the 21st century and I predict that as things go forward into the warming were going to see a world not unlike the Dystopian B-Sci Fi movie of the 1970's " Soylent Green." The Oceans are dying like in that movie and the planet is also warming rapidly as it was in that Movie. Water, food all of it will grow more and more expense and be owned almost entirely by the Oligarchs as in that movie. Were already discussing "death panels" how far away are the "ethical suicide parlors" of the movie? Its all there in Soylent and one other 70's Dystopian epic" ZARDOZ." Check them both out sometime for a peek at what might be coming soon to your neighborhood. Just add in cell phs.
If democracy is dead as Moyers postulates Why not call for NO MORE votes for the duopoloy?
These people are all Afraid to make the correct call. The time will come when these talking heads will start making that call.
But only after the American landscape is in flames.
Which I predict we are only one good stock market crash away from. The next stock market crash is when the PREDATORS will blow up retirement funds, state PERS systems etc.
We Are All Greece. And the lizard people are coming.
mtdon
Just a minor quibble -- the "lizard people" are here.
Still, your general points are spot on. The state public pension systems are definitely at risk inasmuch as they are sitting on mountains of toxic "assets" purchased on the fraudulent lie that their initial investments were rated AAA by Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch.
Obama's new budget cuts $278 billion over ten years from non-health domestic programs, particularly farm programs, pension plans for federal workers, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which insures private pension funds, and the Postal Service, which is to phase out Saturday delivery and close hundreds of smaller post offices.
The cut in funding for the PBGC comes admidst conditions where large corporate employers like American Airlines are proposing to dump their pension plans on the government insurance program, which is already facing a huge deficit. This will mean that tens of thousands of workers will receive much less than they expect, or nothing at all, when they retire.
During fiscal year 2010, the PBGC paid $5.6 billion in benefits to participants of failed pension plans. That year, 147 pension plans failed, and the PBGC's deficit increased 4.5 percent to $23 billion. The PBGC has a total of $102.5 billion in obligations and $79.5 billion in assets. (h/t Wiki)
The PBGC is, shall we say, "under water" -- and this is the calm before the storm.
Stay tuned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've arrived at this stage because we've put profit first, rather than think what is good for society/country as a whole and then devise laws that benefit the people.
No, we put ME first and the hell with the community and the eco systems of the planet Earth. Those who put ME first have no compassion, no empathy and no sense of morals. How pointless is our life spent accumulating things. They say "He who dies with the most toys, WINS! Still dead ain't he? and all his toys will rot after the heirs fight over the trash.
We must learn that we have a spiritual side that may guide us to act in the interests of the good of all. Unfortunately we are far from this core ideal in the United States today---to our detriment. We are social animals and need the love and companionship of other people. We need to value ourselves, not on our shiny toys and electronic gadgets but on the value of our good deeds. We need to learn to care and share the bounty of our mother the earth. And we don't have much time. Our rapacious greed is killing our mother and when she goes, we are gone too. They say the cockroaches will survive. What a world that will be.
My advice to you is to go and join an Occupy group. These people are trying to create a new way of living where we can all be happy and fulfilled by the use of our creativity. There is a better world in birth and it needs your help. Don't vote for the creeps in our government now. Vote and try to insist that the voice of the people must be heard. We need a radical and quick direct U turn in our governmental policies. Let's make that turn ourselves and be kind and generous to the people around us. Love is the answer to our problems---and it is love for all people and all life on earth. Do not harm anyone. Stand up for decency and moral behavior at all times. You know inside the difference between good and evil. Go with the good and certainly not with the lesser evil. Evil is evil and we don't need more of it. Go for the good! Be good yourself.
The people in ancient Egypt thought the purpose of life on earth was to be a good person so that you will be rewarded in the after life. The ancient people in India agreed with that and said you will receive back what you give--Kharma. Maybe there is something to spiritual beliefs. Maybe we do have a soul. Maybe we are in fact a soul in a body instead of the other way around. Many ancient cultures teach the same thing. This life is in preparation for the next life. What have you got to lose? We are going to die, and
maybe there will be something after that. And even if that is not true you will feel good if you act with kindness and generosity. When you do something nice you will feel good---and that seems to be a good idea to me.
As others above have pointed out, it is one thing to keep DESCRIBING the situation and expressing concern, but
when will Moyers, Winship, and the seemingly vast number of those who say they are concerned or even appalled at this corporate controlled butchery really stand up and take real action?
NOT just against the republican fascists,
but against all of the fascist system and its proponents.
When will these so-called concerned and supposedly equal justice supporting people say NO to all corporate-owned parties?
Until they do, they are only pretending.
If the reality is as bought-out as Winship and Moyers DESCRIBE, as you
emphasize, just try to think of what We The People COULD DO in 2012.
It seems to me, within those circumstances, not much "doing" can be done.
Throw in another circumstance -- that usually a sitting president is not denied
a second term if there's a war on, and military personnel are in harm's way --
and there's then not a damned thing that can be done. I've posted a lot
about what's the best way forward. I'm discouraged.
"For the rest of us, the ship may already have sailed." Make that "already have sunk with us on board."
It ain't over. Nothing is ever over. We haven't even started yet, and they'll fold like the house of cards that they are, when it starts. This is the same attitude about the Soviet/Warsaw Pact hegemony; unopposible (should they decide to move decisively) and enduring to the end of time. That's not how it was. It's NEVER that way, in reality.
My post may have sounded more pessimistic than I intended. Even though the ruling class may have sunk the boat, its their boat that's going down. I believe there is still time to get out and on to a better floatation device in the form of a new economic system.
Winds of Change
There is an old saw about Desmond Tutu and PT Botha.
It came to pass that Tutu and Botha arrived at the same time for a crossing of the Rubicon. Botha was recognized, of course, for his ever present narrow brimmed fedora.
The vessel arrived and the two boarded, seating themselves in respectful proximity for the long haul crossing. During the journey the winds of change arose and blew his hat from the head of PT Botha. Sailing on the breeze, the hat landed on the crest of a wave some leagues away.
Desmond Tutu, observing this, arose from his seat, stepped over the gunwale, went and retrieved the hat, returning it to the Prime Minister.
The following day the South African press objectively reported that Desmond Tutu did not know how to swim.
For some time now I've thought there was something naggingly familiar about what has been happening in this country. Finally it clicked. Mario Puzo had the mechanics figured out in 1969. Then in 1981, Thomas Harris began his treatment of the driving psychodynamic.
Don Vito Corleone, the principal character in Puzo's novel, perceived the big-picture possibilities and planned, with remarkable accuracy, a power strategy that has been unfolding ever since. Then Thomas Harris gave us Dr. Hannibal Lecter to portray the inner workings of a highly functional psychopath.
The stories of those characters provide a synthesis for what is happening and the mentality that drives it. But the enabling factor may be best revealed in the immense popularity of those villains. For even as we may denounce them, they have our secret permission to continue, because...
"because"... (samplings of 'reasons' people internalize)
- "...it ain't a perfect system but its the best there is..."
- "I've worked all my life, "paid my dues" and I'll be damned if some (fill in the blank)_____ is going to grab my ankle climbing up the ladder..."
- "Any fool who believes you can change things by protesting deserves what they get..."
- "This is the greatest country on earth, love it or leave it"
- "...its just entertainment. I've had a hard week - time to kick back and relax"
- "tomorrow....we'll fix it when we get elected"
"- fill in the blank
"My question is this. Why on earth are H. sapiens still breeding?
My question is this: How long will it be before woman world wide realise they are manufacturing free, gratis and for nothing, out of their own substance, yet more slaves and consumers?
"As others above have pointed out, it is one thing to keep DESCRIBING the situation and expressing concern, but
when will Moyers, Winship, and the seemingly vast number of those who say they are concerned or even appalled at this corporate controlled butchery really stand up and take real action?"
My question is this: How did the French resistance
communicate and take action?
Welcome to third world America!
Trylon, negro women and their children are not the problem here, frankly, I think you have confused the hell out of most of us in this forum. I will crawl out on a limb and admit, I am stupid, and black, so, now that is out of the way... But, I do have common sense, and the ability to reason, a little... I read this article, but I did not come away from it with what you did, stupid me... However, I know that this country is failing, at 60 years old, I have lived through a few ups and downs. The point is, what is happening around the globe, not just the United States, must be taken seriously, if not, none of this back-biting is gonna matter... All I can do is try an be a voice Screaming OUT for sanity, in this wilderness of pure - madness!!
Try this, google Grover Norquist's speech at CPAC, and sit down and look at it, he explains to the world why Romney is the choice for the powers that be, for the presidency. They just want a Robo-Signer, not a thinking president. I am at a lost for figuring out what it is some people want, I can understand what the super rich want, but why would a poor, or a person with modest means, would want them to bring this nation to it's knees for sport... Beware of what you all are not doing - Coming Together!!! Then reread this atrticle. The truth about what is happening to our country is being told, but there are a lot of people that just will not hear it... I will say it again, Sorry Jesus, THEY, want the THIEF Barabus...
That is all I can do for you all, God Bless Us All - Signing Off For Good...
==Trylon, negro women and their children are not the problem here==
The women to which I referred lived prior to the Civil War and Emancipation. They had escaped white slave masters by followin' the drinkin' gourd, but were recaptured in the North by bounty hunters. Incidentally, the genuine end of the Underground Railroad was Ontario, Canada.
I join you in screaming out for sanity, world wide. The question is: What would be sane.? Although this is very personal, after having two children I underwent vasectomy. I love children and would have been happier with a brood. But the world needed Zero Population Growth 3 billion people ago.
Trylon
A very appropriate point that you make, marvbro59.
As back then, so again. They still choose criminally
compromised thugs, like Barabus, because THEY
think like him, and he makes them feel comfortable.
With regrets for your signing off:
IM4=.
Ps., I'm ceasing commenting also, at least for awhile.
I really don't see much use in further describing what
anybody who cares already knows.
This ship is sinking and sinking fast, if there is hope it is not in playing by the rules that be. In this rigged game you will get no where if you expect to use the same ole rules and methods. Our representative electoral system is toast, we can't get far with the vote. The money is concentrated in the wrong hands so trying to undo this madness by fighting money with money won't work. What's left? There appears to be one action that has gotten the attention of the nation and has influenced the conversation and that is the Occupy Movement. Perhaps a popular uprising, a non violent revolution in the streets is one of the only options that is available to the 99 percent. If you want something to change you have to do something different, if you play by the same rules that have been rigged against you you will not succeed. It is time to wake the masses and hit the streets.
Michael, you are so correct in your suggestion....However, we must think of a strategy to wake up the 800 lb gorilla, which happens to be the comatose American public...I realize their being a victim to mass propaganda day in and day out, but gee, so were we...But the hope is that they too are and will be coming around and then the Occupy Movement will have real bite...This serious crisis we are in has to be dealt with on a very grass root level....I think Ron Paul has been a great asset to the "wake-up" movement!!!
RP, IMO, hasn't "woken" anyone up - he is simply using the current disenchantment with war and the banks to advance his Libertarian agenda ....
He is still a Rep - a member of the duopoly run by TPTB.
Those who have "woken up" are much better off with Jill Stein of the Greens, IMO ...
NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE MORE MONEY TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEN THE LEAST OF US COULD AFFORD.
Good article. If any Demobots read it, I'm sure they will still figure out some way to rationalize voting for one of the corrupt duopolistic parties.
Bill & Michael,
You guys are starting to sound a little radical there. GOOD! Democracy going down the drain requires a radical response.
Forgive my presumptiveness but you guys get the reason for the response but don't seem to ever identify the bigger forces at work that make for all the political/economic strife and partisanship, that drives the domestic war, that drives the world war, that obsoletes both capitalism and socialism and cries out for localism where democracy can thrive.
Get to know Richard Heinberg at the Post-Carbon Institute. There are others, but he gets the big picture as well as any without being tarnished unfairly by the political action of a Bill McKibbon or the investment background of a Chris Martenson. BTW, His most recent book happens to be among the first 6 recommended primer books by Occupy Educated. It's there for a very good reason.
www.http://occupyeducated.org/primer/
Until enough of us start to understand that we are on the cusp of the death of civilization as we know it, we can't start processing that through Kubler-Ross's stages and come out the other side knowing what needs to be done and where to go to find solutions. The current political/economic sturm und drang are symptoms with no solutions forthcoming.
Hello Bill Moyers, we love ya, but we wonder, “Where have you been?”
You said, “When all is said & done, this race 4 the White House may cost more than two billion dollars.” Yeah, a big lot more! Our guess is probably between 5 and 20 BILLION MORE!! ( See pleasethink.net for a full explanation)
You see, money means nothing when you have the “unlimited funds” now permitted by “our” “Supreme “ Court. -- Consider this; Exon Mobile, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips were numbers 2,3,and 4 on the Fortune 500’s profitability list for 2011. Together their 2011 profits totaled in excess of $60 billion. Yeah, Bill, MORE THAN 60 BILLION DOLLARS. Now, if you had that kind of money, what would you do? I say they’ll “invest” maybe 5% (just a nickel per $) in the next election. That’s just a lousy little $3BILLION – but that alone, would almost triple the total cost of the federal election in 2008 when Obama was elected! They, together with a few others of the Fortunate 500, can (I say will), buy our whole f’n government!
So, what’s to be done? Constitutional amendment, disclosure requirements, State interventions??
Nah, all are simply ineffective diversions. See “pleasethink.net” for a desperation, -but possibly effective,- means to solve the problem - -by altering the membership of the Supreme Court!!
Long shot? Yeah. But, anybody got a better plan?? Regards, oh, and good luck, fredsez
Well, Mr. Moyer, you sure got the defeatists out of their dens. A lot of folks here are knocking the parties as if they are to blame. Perhaps there is a better way and folks seem to think that a third party is the magic pill that will clean the backed up colon that our capitol has become. I can't see it. If the money is still there it will still be the cheese clogging the pipe and the new party will drown in the sludge. It is not the parties that are corrupt but the huge influx of lobbyists stealing our representatives that create the problem. Before we can criminalize private donations to political campaigns we must change the legislature by strongly supporting progressive candidates, ala the Tea Party. True, they had wads of cash and chartered busses to cart them around but once all those folks got a look at what they had accomplished they went home and appalled, shut up, watching the clowns they elected tear the wheels off the bus and sell them for scrap. Money doesn't care about truth but it does care about power. Big money can shout their message 24/7 but just like New Coke if nobody buys it they fail. Educate, don't worry about seeming to be an ass, keep working the message, and for the nation’s sake VOTE. If the Democrats win worst case is another weak holding action and maybe a less corporate Supreme Court. If the republicans win this one the colon may rupture and the entire nation will be poisoned. Now is the time to prepare, now is the time to pick our champions and now is the time to plan. By May we must join with the occupires and create an American Spring and as a united front OCCUPY THE CONGRESS
"namora"
That "weak holding action" you are promoting is a deadly delusion.
The democrats have gone out of their way to implement some of the worst attacks on this nation. THEY repealed the regulations on banking, they have sabotaged actions necessary to reduce global warming, and they have furthered the gutting of the Bill of Rights.
They do what the republicans want, but first they lie about wanting to do it.
The republicans and the democrats are both controlled by Wall Street. So, you go ahead and call us "defeatists" when we - who see the corruption for what it is - try to wake you up to the fact that you are being made a FOOL by the democrats and their allies, the republicans.
I'll not argue with you about who is responsible for what and when, although there is room for debate. My main points are that parties are no more people than corporations are. Their corruption and lack of response is due to their members and while the Democrats in general are known as the party of governmental social responsibility they have also succumbed to the corporate pressures. I am not promoting in any way a weak holding action but as a pragmatist I have to accept the possibility that Washington has fallen far short of my personal governmental goals. The second point is that money is only money and educated and reasoning voters are very hard to buy. They are insulated from lies by the obvious truths. Your points for the most part have merit but unlike me you and others only rant and offer no path to follow. Howling at the moon is in the end just noise. I don’t need the howling to wake me up I need constructive suggestions to work with.
"folks seem to think that a third party is the magic pill .... I can't see it .....we must change the legislature by strongly supporting progressive candidates, "
So why can't we elect progressive candidates from a 3rd party? One that hasn't been bought out as the duopoly has? If you are suggesting we elect progressive Dems, they are the ones who more likely "will drown in the sludge", for the simple reason they are still part of the Dem machine and the DLC is still very much in charge. A perfect example is Kucinich - a single payer guy (cosponsored the legislation for it that never got anywhere) who not only sat down and shut up about it, but helped push Obamination Care after that little chat on Air Force One. Prog Dems are allowed to make nice speeches and preen for the base but when push comed to shove they will sit down and shut up - choosing party over principle - when they are told to do so. If someone like Kucinich can be brought to heel - what is the point in electing progressive Dems?
If you want someone who won't drown in the sludge - here is a good place to start.
http://www.jillstein.org/
And the funny thing is, you are more likely to get the progressive stuff Kucinich had been pushing if you go outside his party to get it. See Stein's SOTU ...
The next question Bill-is how we get anything approaching a representative democracy back. Here's a hint--it won't be through electoral politics. I know Bill thinks we can take over the Democratic Party. Fat chance--the Democrats have already sold us out by moving so far right that they are the Republicans of 10 years ago. And the Republicans have moved even further right because the Dems have so willingly ceded ground, most willingly moved rightward along with them. Go ahead and vote if you want to. There is no real choice for us, or as Robert Sheer said so well--"elections are for suckers."
The Translucent Revolution
"There is a gentle but profound revolution in human consciousness happening throughout the world—it has affected millions of people from all walks of life, and the numbers continue to multiply exponentially.
"The breakthroughs they have experienced are startlingly similar and are marked by a new sense of well-being, increased joy in life, diminished fear, and a natural impulse to serve and contribute to the world in a real way."
~~~
...a luminous contribution to the individual and collective awakening of all of us." -------- Lama Surya Das - author of Awakening the Buddha Within, founder of the Dzogchen Center
"A brilliant and timely missive from an author deeply in touch with the pulse of our evolution and our awakening."
-------- Lynne Twist - author of The Soul of Money
~~~
At a time when the fate of the world seems increasingly uncertain, The Translucent Revolution provides a compelling and convincing argument that radical positive change is taking place throughout our global society, resulting in increasing numbers of people from diverse and divergent backgrounds who are awakening to a state Ardagh defines as "translucent."
(con't)
In the process, they are becoming part of a potentially critical mass of people capable of triggering a world [-wide advance in human consciousness], an awakening of deeper purpose, joy, compassion, self-fulfillment, and service to others.
As part of his research for The Translucent Revolution, Ardagh interviewed others from all walks of life he are awakening to similar experiences, including Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Jean Houston, and Neale Donald Walsch. In all, he interviewed over 170 people, compiling 250 tapes and 3,000 pages of transcripts, the essence of which he distilled into this book.
After opening with an examination of what "translucence" is and how it can be lived after the radical awakening that leads to it, Ardagh then explores how translucence can positively transform individuals in terms of their self-identity, personal actions, feelings, relationships, sexual partnering, parenting, and art. From there he examines the affects of translucence in collective society in terms of education, business, health care, religion, and global sense of community.
(con't)
It seems to me that the overall cultural and economic goals sought by the majority of Progressives will only be possible to attain through the emergence of new levels of human awareness. Fortunately, these new capacities have begun to appear and spread - likely as a result of the interconnected (and life-threatening) difficulties our species is now facing.
And, it may take much collective suffering before we allow these to fully manifest in heart, mind, and soul.
~~~
Note re- the book.
Mixed reviews.
Format rather heavy.
Some very useful ideas - IMHO
Basic concept of this imperfect book - sound, sane, and thought-provoking....
"-it won't be through electoral politics."
Not as long as we keep voting for Dems/Reps - not until we make other choices, of those who do represent us. They are out there to choose ...
http://www.jillstein.org/
George Harrison and the Beatles (1968):
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps.
I don't know why nobody told you
How to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you.
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps.
I don't know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all...
Still my guitar gently weeps.
I'm going to try to put this in a nutslell. I'm in essence an optimist. I said before the '08 election, I said to my drinking/debating buddy Bob, I said if this one doesn't work "we're fucked". This one has only not worked, it's been a dismal, vile failure. Effectively, we're fucked. We, the functional components of the evil empire, the expanding population of homo sapients that are devouring every living organisn on this earth larger than a micron, we the greatest cataclysm to destroy life in general on earth since the volcanism during the first billion years of earth's history after life evolved, we are fucked.
I'm beating the drum for more sanity in our democratic elections. So far in the current presidential primary season, more than $60 million has been spent for political advertising, much of it of the slimy-innuendo-sandwiched-between-half-truths-and-hate variety.
More details on my blog: Barley Literate by Rick Subber http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/01/elections-for-sale-part-3.html
The bulk of that colossal disgusting total has been spent by Super PACs that are largely funded by shadowy people and organizations with way too much money.
Just take half a minute to think about the impact of this huge, horribly legal spending of very wealthy Americans who are trying to buy acceptance for their point of view.
More comments on my blog below.
When they "put their money where their mouths are," they do it in a big way, much bigger than almost everyone else can manage.
The flood of cash from the rich, the few and the furious doesn't take away your vote. It swamps your vote and drowns out your voice and puts in office too many politicians who aren't inclined to listen to you after they take office.
They hear the sound of money and a drum beat that I don't like to hear. How about you?
Elizabeth Warren wrote a book called "The Two Income Trap". Which showed that most people who went bankrupt were people with children. Those who didn't have children (Dual Income, No Kids) rarely went bankrupt and usually enjoyed a much better lifestyle than those who had kids. Perhaps we need to have more people refusing to have children (like they are doing in Europe) to change things. In any case the conclusion I got from Ms. Warren's book is that getting married, but not having children definitely gives you a much better life.
I wanna see Rep. Kucinich and Sen. Sanders introduce the following Resolution:
"RESOLVED: that the governing principle of the United States is not Democracy, but Plutocracy."
Think anyone would vote against it??